Orthopedic playing splints (soft splints) are known, particularly for the hand, wrist or forearm. The injury is assumed to be one that is not truly disabling, that is, the player may be hurting plenty but he wants to play and can play with the aid of the soft splint. The splint must be soft since regulations prohibit hard splints.
Such splints have been made of silicone-impregnated gauze (of a width for the best anatomical conformation) allowing thick or thin splints to be made while wrapping and impregnating are alternated; protection against shock can be achieved by adding a urethane foam padding between layers of the splint as it is made, and after the cure of the silicone is complete the splint is split with surgical scissors, ready for use by refitting it with tape to the player at game time, or during practice; see The American Journal of Sports Medicine, Vol. 7, No. 6, page 358 et seq., 1979.
In another form, a plaster cast is made of the anatomy in the usual fashion. The cast is removed and is used as a hollow mold for a casting material; this material, after hardening, is removed from the plaster mold and the casting of course replicates the anatomy involved. The replicating casting is wrapped with gauze impregnated with room temperature vulcanizing rubber. When this sets, a concentric layer of foam is cemented to it and another layer of the rubber is employed as the outer surface. When the outer layer has cured, the structure is split, trimmed and fitted to the player as a soft splint; see The American Journal of Sports Medicine, Vol. 10, No. 5, page 293 et seq., 1982.